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Seriously? Why Buy ARC Ref 6SE? seems Benchmark LA4 is a better choice.

And costs only a few grand vs soooo much more for a ref 6se preamp.  Benchmark LA4 Does HT bypass very easily.  
I am at a profound loss.  what the heck is going on inside the Ref 6se box.  What the heck does it all do? 
6se is very pretty but Benchmark LA4 also looks nice. And the McIntosh c1100 preamp is also very pretty.  Frankly, what justifies buying a preamp at such a high price?? It is supposed to be a neutral pass thru of a signal.
emergingsoul
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,358 posts
 
Benchmark always sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me.  Why buy an expensive car when a cheap Fiat can do the same things?  You get what you pay for.   If you can’t figure out the difference, you are in the wrong hobby. 
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,102 posts
 
I doubt they sound the same. Nor do they look the same. So there is that. Different strokes for different folks. I have an ARC preamp currently I am very fond of but would also like to try the Benchmark. They are both companies with very good reputations for delivering quality pieces of technology based on substantial R&D but with somewhat different goals in mind. 
facten
2,864 posts
 
" it’s all marketing funny business. If there truly were diffs there would be all kinds of efforts to have AB testing reviews and in store comparisons. They don’t do this."

Sounds just like kenjit’s speaker narrative
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,376 posts
 
+1, @stereo5 and @jperry 
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,974 posts
 
One part of the answer might be found by comparing the two units’ resale history at somewhere like HiFi Shark. If audiophiles like to try and buy, than perhaps one unit retains value better than the other? Just a guess, because they both seem like very reputable brands, though ARC is much more well-known, overall, right?
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